A Little More Than Complicated
by KittenInAPool
Summary: Let's just say, this is what happens weeks after Jake and Clare start their "Friends With Benefits" situation.  THREE-SHOT
1. Chapter 1

**AH! I feel like I'm cheating on Eclare writing a Cake fic. But I kind of like this one. Something I could expect to sort of happen. But who knows. XD It's a little different then some other writing I've done. But I'm almost finished writing it. And right now it's looking to be a Three-Shot. Maybe four. But most likely Three. Well READ, REVIEW, and ENJOY!**

"_We hang out. We have fun. Just two friends messing around," Jake said leaning against the arm of the couch._

"_And no one gets hurt," Clare smiled, as Jake smirked. They attentively stared at each other for a moment, until he started to lean forward, pressing his lips upon hers. However she pulled away a second later and pushed him down in lying position. "Like Friends with Benefits?"_

_He smirked again. "Exactly." She laid on  
>\top of him and he pulled her body closer to his, immediately locking lips again, as her hands ran through his brunette hair and he kept tight of her hips by his.<em>

Clare and Jake kept up with their Friends with Benefits for weeks. Whenever one of their parents were out of the house after school. They'd wind up there to do, whatever they wanted. And for all those weeks, Clare never thought of Eli. Of course she saw him at school and worked with him on the play. But, the romantic feelings were pretty much gone. Except for the fact, that you will always love someone you have loved. But, she wasn't prying for his attention or anything. She was in a good place, with a really good friend.

Jake and Clare danced to the music at Above the Dot. Giggling and smiling the entire time. Jake pulled her body close to kiss her quickly. When the song stopped, Clare stepped away to go get something to drink. She took a couple sips from a bottle of water she just pulled out of the ice box. "You're getting hot tonight huh?" Alli asked leaning against the table.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Clare sarcastically said screwing back on the top. "Mmm hmm!" Alli replied with a glare not being fooled by her best friend. "So what? Jake and I are having a little fun!" Clare shouted over the new music starting.

"You guys are always together, always giving each other the _looks _across the room, and are kissing each other left and right. But you two aren't _together_?" Clare shrugged to Alli's comment and she pouted, "I'm your best friend Clare. You have to tell me what's going on!"

Clare answered with a jovial sigh, "Fine. He doesn't like relationships and I just don't feel ready for one. That's why we're just messing around for our own amusement. It's amicable. Nothing serious."

"Clare you little Hussy! So like Friends with Benefits?" She asked amusingly.

"Pretty much," Clare giggled. Alli continued after she shared their laughter, "I don't know. I think he might be wanting more."

"Like sex?" Clare asked nervously.

"I was thinking a relationship. The way he's been staring at you. He's being a little more romantic lately. These days he treats you like you're his _girlfriend_. I think he's really falling for you." Alli mentioned.

"He's not into the romantic stuff. We're just friends Alli. Friends who happen to like each other's company." But before Alli could respond; Jake already grabbed Clare's hand and yelled, "C'mon! Keep dancing with me!" Clare looked over at Alli, who was grinning at her, while she handed her, her water and let Jake drag her back out on the dance floor. The music grew more upbeat as he spun her around and held her close. Then randomly dipping her. Clare's heart raced, when he grinned at her. But not just out of fun. He was happy. A bit of joy in his eyes, and what crossed her mind were the words Alli just said to her.

Clare hesitated, and looked at her watch. "Oh!" –He moved her back up to her feet—"It's almost ten. I need to get home."

"You're right. Milady?" He stuck out his elbow for her to link with as the exited the club.

They walked back to Clare's in the night. "Y'know. You didn't need to walk me home," Clare said nonchalantly. "Yeah, well I wanted to," he replied, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She tensed up with a feeling of discomfort.

Once they were in front of her house, she spoke up, "Well we're here. Thank you for walking me home. But you should be on your way. I bet your dad is getting worried."

"Why do I feel like, you're trying to get rid of me, Miss Edwards?" He seductively said lightly brushing the back of his hand across her cheek.

Clare blushed, looking away to avoid eye-contact. Then jumped to another subject, "Why are the lights out? My mom wouldn't have gone to bed this early. Especially if I was out."

"Maybe she's out."

"Doing what?" Clare snapped.

He shrugged. "Who knows? But I can think of something we can do until she gets back." He took his hand out of his pocket of his jacket to take hold of her neck, leaning down to kiss her. It reminded her of their first kiss, after her freak out on Eli. But this time she was hesitant, she jumped into the passion. Letting the moment go on until he pulled away.

She bit her lip and took hold of his hand. "Come on." She hushed reaching for the handle. "Even if my mom is asleep. Doesn't mean out night has to be over just yet, right?" His grin was big, reaching to hug her waist with a quiet laughter as they scurried into the home as unobtrusively as they could.

Suddenly, their cheery moods faded away when they noticed there was some sort of romantic music playing. Jake looked around at nothing but a blackened room, but could see Clare through the moonlight through the windows. He gave her a smug look, "Did you plan this?"

Clare scrunched her face, "No!" Still being hushed. She made her way into the living room, where she noticed two lit tall candles almost half way melted. She flipped the light switch and vision a disturbing sight in front of her. "MOM?"

Jake stepped beside her, eyes growing wide, "DAD?"

**What do you guys think? Was it bad? Good? I know Eclare readers are hating me, because with the looks of it, you want some Eclare mush fics. But This was an Idea I had. And I thought. ONE Cake Three-Shot wouldn't kill me. I'm still working on New Semester, New Clare. That will hopefully be updated soon. But THANK YOU for reading! Give me Any type of Critique! I'll Take it all! :D Well I'll post the second part soon. So Yeah! :D Love ya! :*(^_^) ~Eli**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ah! I'm glad a lot of you liked the first chapter of my Three-Shot. I just hope I don't disappoint you all! Thank you All for reviewing! And Reading first and foremost! Now READ, REVIEW, and ENJOY!**

Helen got off Glen's lap, and they jumped to their feet from the couch; her patting down her dress, as he readjusted his shirt. Helen started, "Clare? I was expecting you'd be out late."

"It's almost ten-thirty, on a school night. It's passed curfew." She growled giving a stern look at her mother. "What were you doing?"

"Glen just came over for dinner and we…" she trailed off.

"I can't believe you!" Clare screamed, racing upstairs with her hands in her palms. "Oh, Clare!" Helen shouted with a consoling voice, running off after her.

"Jake—" Glen started reaching out to his son, but Jake wouldn't let him speak.

"_Don't _talk to me!" Was all Jake said before storming out of the house. Glen trotted behind Jake ignoring his demand. "Jake…Jake! Jacob! You can't ignore me, I'm your father!" He grabbed at his arm, but Jake shrugged him off and took off running.

Clare laid on her stomach hugging a pillow on her bed. With a tear streaked face, trying to keep her crying down and quiet. Helen walked in slowly, "Honey. I'm sorry you guys saw that. But why are you being so emotional?"

Clare let herself sit up before talking to think of a response. "Because, you and dad _just _got a divorce! And you're moving on so quickly."

"Clare, I know it seems like that. But it's nothing." She rubbed her back. "Glen's a great guy. And you and Jake get along great. It just seemed to fit well."

"You don't get it!" She got off her bed and crossed her arms walking a bit away. "Jake and I…" She cut herself off. Helen repeated her in a questioning tone. Clare turned around rubbing her arms. "Jake and I have kind of been messing around."

Helen's eyes widened in fear of what she was talking about. Keeping a stern look, but still quivering a bit. "Like…sex?"

Clare stared at her the same way she did when she was caught with the vibrator at school and her mother suggested she was having sex. "No! But we are just… we act like a couple, but don't call ourselves a couple. It's helped me get closure after Eli."

"Like friends with benefits, _excluding_ sex?" Helen asked, and Clare replied biting her lip nervously and nodded her head once. "But what you thought was just fun, is turning into feelings."

"What? No! We're just friends, mom." She argued wiping her tears away.

"Oh Clare bear. You wouldn't be upset like this if you didn't care for him." Helen got up and walked around the bed to stand closer to Clare.

"No. He's helped me get over Eli _and his new girlfriend._" She groaned as she finished her. "It's nothing more. It's just weird thinking you and Mr. Martin making out on the same couch Jake and I have. It's that weird feeling. And that you're just forgetting completely what happened a few months ago. You and dad tore my life apart! Luckily, even though you guys hated him, Eli was there for the comfort and helped get me through it. But then he went _insane _and Jake was there to pick up the pieces without hurting me. Now you've ruined that for me too!" Tears broke through again and she kept wiping them away with no feat because they continued coming. Her words broke Helen's heart that she started to choke up. She couldn't speak any words. All Helen could do was to pull Clare into a tight comforting hug.

Jake walked in front of his house. Hands in his pockets and head down. When he entered the front door, Glen jumped from his seat wrapping his arms around his son. "Oh thank god! I was about to call the police!"

Jake pushed his father back. "It's only Midnight." He grunted, heading toward the stairs.

"Jake! I'm sorry!" He screamed at his son.

Jake held onto the railing securely, taking in a few breaths as he stood at the beginning of the steps. "Why do you have to ruin everything that makes me happy?"

"What are you talking about?" Glen asked making his way toward Jake.

He turned around, yelling at him. "_First, _you move me out here to the crappy city, away from my home. The home I grew up in. The home…the home with all my memories. Of my childhood, and…and mom." He choked up. "And now I find you making out with Ms. Edwards! Did you not love mom?"

"Of course I loved your mother. She was the greatest person in the world to me. You and her both." Glen argued in a comforting low voice.

"Then why are you acting like she was nothing? And why do you keep making me unhappy?" Tears began to build up beneath his eyelids.

"Don't you dare say that! I love your mother! And no one could ever replace her! But Helen…" He lost what he was going to say, and Jake interrupted.

"Doesn't matter. Because now you've ruined everything between me and Clare." He started up the stairs wiping his eyes on his way up.

Glen decided not to follow him up. Realizing what Jake meant, and why his son was so hurt by his own actions. He made his way to his chair, rubbing his eyes out of stress.

**Yeah, it's weird. But imagine if you had a friends with benefits thing going on and you caught each of your parents making out. Well, I hope you liked it. Tell me what you think in the reviews! I take everything, good, bad, exotic. XD I don't know! But Your reviews make my day! :D Love you all! :*(^_^) ~Eli**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. Sorry this took me forever to post. I've been working on "4 Guys and a Clare" and some other stuff going on. But I woke up early for some reason this morning. Like real early(especially for me) it's like 6AM and I'm posting this. But I guess, you guys don't care about that. Sorry I'm a little tired. Well Thank You to All who reviewed the last chapter. And here is the third and final chapter! READ, REVIEW, and ENJOY!**

Clare walked in the halls, hugging her binder in front of her. She was heading toward her locker, until she caught site of Jake exiting a classroom nearby. She uncomfortably smiled to him, as she made her way around him to get to her locker. But as she was starting to unlock it, he forced himself to go up and talk to her. "Hey. Can we talk?"

"I don't really feel like talking," she said replacing binders for her next class, and ignoring eye contact.

"We can't ignore what happened last night," he stated.

She managed to take a moment of silence as she shut her locker and slowly turned to face him. "We aren't going to work out." Jake bit his tongue, with a face hiding his breaking heart. "Knowing are parents are together. It feels kind of like incest."

"Incest?" He asked. But she didn't notice and went on talking. "I mean, I was going to _sleep with you_ last night. And that would be an awkward situation to live the rest of our lives with if our parents got married or something." She touched his arm as she passed him by and said, "It was fun while it lasted though."

Jake stared blankly, mouth gapped at what she just said. Then watched her walk away, without even bothering to look back at him. He slammed his head against the locker.

* * *

><p><em><strong>TWO DAYS LATER.<strong>_

Clare ran through the door of her house, tossing her purse on the floor yelling, "MOM! MOM! Why did I have to rush home from Alli's? What's so important you couldn't wait until tonight?" Helen walked into the room smiling, then followed by Glen. "What? Did he propose?" She sarcastically snapped.

They looked at each other and giggled. "No. He did not." Helen kept looking out the window and back at Clare. But Clare didn't notice.

She crossed her arms. "Then why am I here? And _not _eating dinner at the Bhandari's?"

"Because—" There was a knock on the door and Helen went to open it.

Jake walked in with his toolbox, "Hi Ms. Edwards. So what's the problem? You're sink—" He slowed down when he noticed Clare. "You said she wasn't going to be here." He looked over at Glen.

"What? Are you going to force us to get along because we might be siblings someday?" Clare retorted rudely.

"No." Glen stepped forward. "We're sending you two on a date."

Both of them gave him a confused look. Then glanced at each other for a second. But Helen walked through, "You have a seven o'clock reservation at the Bistro there is going into the city."

"That's like a five star restaurant though," Clare implied. "Plus, we aren't dating." Jake readjusted in an uncomfortable way, angry from her last statement.

"That's why we're trying to get you two back together," Helen said. "Glen and I decided to stop seeing each other. I know the divorce and Eli and everything has been really hard on you Clare."

"And I know the move and your mother has been difficult for you Jake," Glen intruded. "But the past few weeks, you two have been non-stop happy. And as your parents we want to give you what you deserve to make you happy."

"And we have never seen either of you as happy then you have been since you first _got together_, and we're assuming because it's been because of each other. And the past two days you guys have been nothing but depressed," Helen pointed out. "So, we're getting you back together!"

"Okay-?" Jake replied, not knowing what to say with the awkwardness of this conversation.

Helen said, "Good. Clare you go upstairs and change into something nice. And when you get home you will explain to me why you were bringing a boy in passed curfew." Clare grinned at what her mother said that. And Glen pulled Jake over to hand him his clothes he took from his closet to go change into in the bathroom.

They sat in Jake's car as they drove to the restaurant. Every now and then they would glance over at each other and awkwardly smile. But it was silent until they reached the restaurant. Jake was dressed in a burgundy button-up shirt, with black slacks, and some nice dress shoes. He made his way over to the host and said, "Uh…we have a reservation for two for Martin."

The guy looked down at the list and said, "Oh yes. Mr. Martin this way." He guided them to a booth in the back near a small fountain. He set down some elegant looking menus then suggested before Clare sat down. "And Miss, would you like me to check your coat?"

"Oh… Thank you." She unbuttoned it and let the man slid it off her shoulders. Revealing a tight black halter dress that went down to around the middle of her thigh. Jake gawked at her, blown away by her beauty. She took her seat across from him, grinning at him with her red lips. As they both looked at their menus, Jake broke the silence. "I don't think I've ever had my dad set me up on a date before." They both chuckled at the comment.

"Yeah I know. It's kind of weird. Because, first of all we weren't ever together in the first place. We were just—" Clare said until Jake interrupted.

"Friends having some fun." He finished and she smiled at him.

They waiter showed up asking if they wanted an appetizer, and Clare asked for the Artichoke dip and bread. Jake didn't take her eyes off her while she spoke to him. When she looked back she asked, "I hope that's alright. It just sounded amazing at the moment."

"Not at all." Jake replied. Then when she picked up her glass to drink her water he voiced out, "Clare, I love you."

She choked on her water, which made him get up and move over to her side of the booth to help her, but she waved him down mouthing she was fine. Once she cleared her throat she finally said, "Are you serious?"

"I've never been more serious." A smile grew on his face, staring her down blissfully. Clare licked her lips as she looked into his honest eyes. She grabbed his face and pulled him closer to kiss him. Not passionately, just a moment to share their love at the same time being in a public five star restaurant.

* * *

><p>After dinner, Jake parked his truck in front of Clare's house. "Well tonight was quite fun." Jake grinned while he spoke. "After the awkwardness of making it happen. It was still worth it."<p>

"Yeah, it was," Clare said, staring into his hazel eyes. She reached for his neck and pulled each other closer. Lips immediately interlocking and letting their emotions take control. She moved her hand up into his hair, but that's when he pulled away, taking a few breaths. "Do you want to finish the other night that was so _rudely _interrupted with the drama with the parentals?" He asked seductively.

Clare giggled and rolled her eyes. "How about the next time I'm in the mood and no one is home." She pointed over at the lights on at her house.

"Who said we had to go inside?" He asked with a sarcastic grin. She slapped his arm out of play fun. "I was kidding! I was kidding."

Clare smiled. "Well doesn't matter. I should get going anyway."

She inched her way to the door and grabbed the handle when Jake took her arm and made her turn back around. "Not without one more good night kiss." They both smirked innocently as they leaned in for one last kiss, before she climbed out and walked to her door and waved him goodbye as he drove off.

She swooned walking into her house; biting her lip at the thought of the night that just happened. Helen set her book and reading glasses down saying, "Looks like someone had a fun night."

Clare bit her lip turning to face her mother. "It was…marvelous. Thank you Mom."

Helen smiled at her daughter grinning uncontrollably, and opened her arms for a hug. Clare ran up to her to hug her back and Helen said, "You're welcome honey. Whatever makes you happy." She kissed her forehead as they pulled back from the hug. "Now, you're going to tell me exactly what you were thinking sneaking Jake in past curfew the other night."

"_Mom?_" Clare snapped uncomfortably with a chuckle in her voice. Helen smiled at her but then replied, "Doesn't matter. Starting now. You're grounded for a week."

Clare dropped her jaw. "What the hell? You send me on a date with the man of my dreams. Then you ground me!" She walked toward the stairs. "Wow!"

As Clare walked up the stairway her mother yelled, "I love you Clare!" She waited for a response in the silence for a moment when she suddenly heard. "I love you too mom!" Then Clare's bedroom door shut.

**Kind of…A little pathetic I know. Happy endings and funny dialogue aren't really my forte. I tried though! So, again, I'd like to thank all of my readers. This was a little Fluff idea I came up with one night, and kind of just turned into a little Three-Shot! :D Well, if you haven't go check out my other stories! And I love you all! :*(^_^) ~Eli**


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